Jerome Bel Pichet Klunchun and Myself November 12, 2007

"Captivating…a performance of rare intelligence"-Le Figaro (France)

French conceptualist choreographer Jerome Bel won over our audience in 2005 when he made his local debut with The show must go on, a boldly entertaining yet satisfyingly cerebral tour de force of dance theatre. That performance was set to a string of pop songs that slyly illuminated its subtle and subversive charms while also letting the audience in on the laughs. Columbus Dispatch critic Barbara Zuck named it one of the top shows of the year, and called it "a clever and innovative piece that overturns a number of theatrical traditions and probes contemporary culture from many angles." But, as she also noted, "what Bel has accomplished in this work is something quite a bit more than fun and games." Now Bel returns with Pichet Klunchun and myself, a collaborative project with the exquisite classical Thai dancer Pichet Klunchun. It's a brilliant exchange that takes the form of a theatrical report about the meeting between two artists who know nothing of each other and have very different practices. Each attempts to learn more about the other through questioning and demonstrations of ideas about dance that reveal their personal motivations despite a significant cultural gap. The dialogue smartly touches on such subjects as identity, multiculturalism, and globalization, as the work celebrates the two artists' wide spectrum of inquiry and mastery of their chosen paths. Join us for a special encounter with ideas in action.

Funded in part by FUSED: French U.S. Exchange in Dance, a program of the National Dance Project/New England Foundation for the Arts and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York, in collaboration with FACE (French American Cultural Exchange), with lead funding from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Florence Gould Foundation, and Mr. George Desipio.

Official Website: http://www.wexarts.org/pa/index.php?eventid=2333